Redefining Nashville

About this Project

#NewNashville

Music City is transforming at a breathtaking rate. The New Nashville project captures a range of perspectives on this process as reported by the Tennessean reporting teams. The voices captured here undercut the popular stereotypes of Nashville’s citizens, its music and culture, its food, its faith and its future.

The major theme that emerged is that, at the moment, Nashville is engaged in a lengthy balancing act; weighing up the new opportunities emerging for longtime residents and recent arrivals with the values and qualities that made the city what it is.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This content was originally published as part of a subscriber--exclusive premium edition in March.

An hour or so into another long predawn commute up Interstate-24, Phillip Luther sees the glistening lights of the city he’s helping to create.

“I about put myself out of commission making all these people around here rich,” the middle-aged longtime construction worker said. “But you know what I strive for? I've got four kids, two girls and two boys. That's what keeps me on my feet. That's what keeps me striving for this (expletive).”

Three years have passed since The New York Times dubbed Nashville the new “it” city, and the rapid ascent of this once-sleepy Middle Tennessee town continues unabated, spurred by a low unemployment rate, entrepreneurial endeavors and tourism.

The Nashville skyline today is vastly different from the one Bob Dylan evoked in his 1969 album of the same name. Roughly two dozen cranes mark the panorama each day, with nearly 150 active construction projects in Davidson County alone.

“Not that progress is bad. Progress is great, but...it’s good to recognize your past and respect it. You can’t keep every piece of brick and mortar just because it’s old.”

Leon Jackson

Nashville’s neon-soaked strip of downtown honky tonks suddenly rivals Las Vegas as the go-to spot for bachelor and bachelorette parties. Bridgestone is building its new corporate headquarters downtown, Google is laying 3,200 miles of high-speed fiber optic cable under the county. And the city’s brand is vigorously marketed across the nation, in an eponymous television drama and a coopted fast food version of hot chicken, a signature local dish.

Nashville ranks among the fastest-growing metro areas in America – on average, 82 people move to Music City every day.

“When I was growing up here, it was unusual to run into someone at school or out who had moved into town,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “The local guy is the freak now. And by and large that has really had a great effect on the city, in terms of how it’s developed. We’re more cosmopolitan, I think.”

Luther does not. He treks 65 miles northwest from tiny Manchester each day, steeling himself for another round of backbreaking labor, erecting the rebar that reinforces the concrete that forms the base of the city where he can’t afford to live.

The new Nashville.

Demolition and progress

Leon Jackson’s father once helped build Nashville, too.

The late Leon Quincy Jackson, a noted African-American architect, moved here in 1954 to teach engineering at Tennessee State University. He designed a number of buildings and landmarks that still stand, including the Pagoda of Medicine in North Nashville.

The city’s modern transformation traces to the late 1950s, when the Life & Casualty Tower became its first skyscraper and the interstate highway system began slicing through neighborhoods.

A vibrant pedestrian culture has developed in the Gulch where condos mix with dining options and retail space as construction booms.(Photo: Larry McCormack / The Tennesseean)

Recent downtown growth began in earnest around the turn of the 21st century.

Today the younger Jackson, a Nashville native who grew tired of what he called “punching the clock on Music Row,” promotes electronica music. He and his associates drive the streets scouring for places to host dance parties. Ideal venues, like some of the historic buildings his father once designed, are being leveled.

“Not that progress is bad. Progress is great,” Jackson said. “But...it’s good to recognize your past and respect it. You can’t keep every piece of brick and mortar just because it’s old. But we need to respect some of it and look out for the facilities that need to be saved.”

Downtown, just off Broadway, sits the legendary Ryman Auditorium, the longtime former home of the Grand Ole Opry. Its planned demolition was averted only after public outcry in the 1990s.

“Thank goodness smart people figured out that it needed to survive,” Young said. “That would have been tragic. If that had been just looked at strictly as a financial proposition, I doubt it would still be standing.”

A snapshot look at current figures for a city that's changing so rapidly.(Photo: Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tenness)

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A paperweight sat on George Armistead’s desk for 12 years while he served on Nashville Metro Council from 1987 to ’99.

“Is it best for Nashville?” it read.

“And that’s really how I tried to vote on different issues and tried to lead and tried to make a difference for our city in the metro council,” Armistead said.

His tenure included constructing Bridgestone Arena and luring major pro sports teams, now recognized as catalysts in the city’s downtown transformation. The venue is home ice for the NHL’s Nashville Predators franchise and for a long menu of other events, like the annual CMA Awards.

Community support wasn't universal, and even Armistead’s own family took exception.

5 Key Nashville philanthropists

Sylvia Roberts

Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee: Roberts has lovingly supported Second Harvest as a hard-working, hands-on volunteer and generous donor since back in the 1980s, organizing food drives, hosting events at her home, heading fundraisers and serving on the board. Her favorite line is, "Come with me to volunteer at a Mobile Pantry and you will see why I want to help."

Nan Adams

Friends of Radnor Lake: Adams is chairman of the Friends of Radnor Lake board and has supported this Nashville nature preserve in a generous way financially, as well as through countless hours of volunteering, for more than seven years. Radnor officials say Adams’ passion for Radnor is unparalleled — "It is her heart and soul!"

Judy Steele Bayer

You Have the Power: Bayer has been involved with You Have The Power since its inception in 1993 as a founding board member and constant supporter and volunteer through the years. She has rolled back to the board and is as passionate as ever about helping victims find their way to healing and educating the community on ways to prevent crime and abuse.

Charlie Cardwell

Fifty Forward: Cardwell, who is a Metro trustee, has been involved with Fifty Forward since the early 1970s. In addition to offering personal financial support, Cardwell has served on the FiftyForward board of directors in many capacities and has been a strong advocate on many fronts, including pushing for creative ways to provide care in-home vs. institutional care for frail older adults.

Genma Holmes

Frist Center for the Visual Arts: Holmes has been a tireless volunteer and cheerleader for the Frist since its early days, when she used the museum as a classroom for her home-schooled children. Not only is she a member of the marketing council, a generous financial supporter and a volunteer in many capacities, she has steered a fund to underwrite the cost of Frist memberships for military families.

“My parents were so mad at me … when I voted to help bring the Predators and the Titans here because they were concerned about taxes,” he said. “And I explained to them we had to spend money to make money. And now is our chance to bring Nashville out of obscurity.”

While the redevelopment supercharged the local economy, the concerns shared by Armistead’s parents and others were well-founded.

The cost of living has soared.

A year ago, a penthouse condo in The Gulch sold for more than a million dollars. Recently, for the first time, a home in Sylvan Park sold for the same amount. Small one-bedroom apartments near downtown rent for upwards of $2,000 a month. Trendy East Nashville rates among the hottest neighborhoods in America, forcing those in search of more affordable housing even farther out of town. Gentrification in Germantown highlights the city’s massive socioeconomic disparity.

“It’s gotten expensive,” Armistead said. “You have to pay to play here.”

Historically, stories of progress are also often stories of those left behind.

A community tested

The same year the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum underwent a massive $100 million expansion in 2010, an epic flood devastated many areas of the city.

Dancers, wearing LED lights, perform next to DJ's as they spin dance music at The Rosewall, which is an event venue in the Gulch. The 1930's warehouse was once the home of Olson's Cars. Rosewall opened in 2013.(Photo: Shelley Mays / The Tennessean)

Allena Bell, left, and Bob Van Fleteren, in background, lift their hands in praise while singing during church service at Strong Tower Bible Church on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016 in Nashville. One of the goals of Strong Tower Bible leadership is to create a diverse church membership.(Photo: Shelley Mays / The Tennessean)

Murlal artist Michael Cooper, left, and assistant Daniel Leggett create a vintage Coca-Cola mural for a new restaurant in Nashville. Cooper was asked by the owner to create a mural that looks like it has been there for years.(Photo: Shelley Mays, The Tennessean)

A man overlooks the Omni Hotel and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum from a viewing station at the Music City Center. The Music City Center opened in May 2013.(Photo: Shelley Mays / The Tennessean)

Hundreds of empty bottles of wine are displayed on a wall in the lobby of City Winery in downtown Nashville. The City Winery is a restaurant, music venue and fully functioning winery that opened in 2014. (Photo: Shelley Mays / The Tennessean)

With views of downtown Nashville, crane operator Lee Essick works to building supplies to the 27-story Westin Nashville Hotel in downtown Nashville on March 15, 2016.(Photo: Shelley Mays / The Tennessean)

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King, whose condo was wiped out, left home with only her keys, purse and car. A friend who lived nearby took her in, until the phones began working again.

According to the mayor's office, 29,000 volunteers, largely organized by Hands On Nashville, provided more than 375,000 service hours to help clean up from the ordeal.

“I think we’re very grounded in our moral responsibilities to our neighbors, to our community,” Day said, “and the one thing I’ve always found about Nashville is if there’s an issue or problem that needs to be solved and there’s a call to action, people rally.”

Balancing Act

A man rides a unicycle through Centennial Park on a mild February afternoon, a full-scale reconstruction of the Parthenon in the background.

Nashville has long been known as the “Athens of the South,” a nod toward the city’s vast collection of colleges and universities.

Across the street from the park sits Vanderbilt University.

“We definitely do have a lot of institutions of higher learning, that’s for sure,” said Beth Fortune, Vanderbilt’s associate vice chancellor for public affairs.

Fortune has lived in the area for more than 30 years, witnessing its transformation first-hand working as a reporter and then as a political press secretary.

“I think the colleges and universities are a hugely important part of the city,” she said. “I think they contribute to the vibrancy, and ... the innovation and creativity. College students just bring a unique perspective and energy to a city.”

But keeping recent graduates in the city could become a challenge, Fortune warns. While the influx of dining and entertainment options are important, so is practicality and affordability. As Nashville’s stature continues to rise, so does the cost of living.

Gathering places like Bar Louie on 11th Ave South attract a young, hip crowd as construction booms in the Gulch.(Photo: Larry McCormack / The Tennessean)

“I think people’s preconceived notion of Nashville is not what it once was,” Fortune said. “When I first came to Nashville from Indiana, where I grew up, people were like, ‘What? You’re going to Nashville?’ And like, ‘Oh, do they wear shoes down there?’ And all that kind of stuff.

“When I say where I’m from now, people say, ‘Oh that is so cool!’”

Nashville at a crossroads

Luther, the ironworker, said he helped build Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, but has never been able to afford tickets to a game.

He remembers the end of a work day in 1999, shortly after the venue opened, when he noticed a homeless man. They struck up a conversation.

At one time the man and his wife both worked, but they didn’t have insurance, got sick and lost their jobs, cars and home. More than 2,000 people, on average, have lived on the streets of Nashville since 2010.

“Well damn, there's a job here,” Luther said he told the man. “There's a job around the corner. There’s jobs down the road.”

“You're not understanding,” he replied. “I worked myself to death for nothing.”

The man turned and walked off.

Luther began his long ride home, another day of hard labor complete. From his vantage, as he progresses, Nashville shrinks in the rearview, growing smaller and smaller until it finally disappears.

Flood spurred development

Nashville's 2010 flood turned the Opryland Hotel into a giant indoor swimming pool, left grand pianos bobbing atop 5.25 million gallons of water inside the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, and — in a surreal scene that will remain forever etched into the memories of those who saw it — glided a portable classroom from Lighthouse Christian School down the street as if it were a fallen leaf floating down a creek.

The "1,000-year flood," an unprecedented natural disaster, has come to shape the character and evolution of both the city's longtime and emerging neighborhoods ever since.

Stroll through The Nations, a once working-class neighborhood in West Nashville, and you'll see towering three-story town houses — neighbors call them "tall skinnies" — clustered in twos or threes where modest one-story brick cottages once stood.

Construction crews are ever-present, with multistory condos being built high along Charlotte Pike.* There is a women's clothing boutique, an "upscale dive bar," a popular new restaurant and a craft brewery coming soon.

Nearly six years earlier, overwhelmed by the flood damage, many low-income, longtime homeowners decided to sell — giving developers an opening to raze and rebuild as Nashville's national profile soared.

Elizabeth Elkins moved from Atlanta to The Nations after the flood. The songwriter was drawn to the neighborhood's proximity to Music Row.

From her front porch on Indiana Avenue, Elkins pointed to the row of tall town houses a block away on Illinois Avenue. All had cropped up in the past few years.

"It seemed like it was changing," she said. "It's changed a good deal more in the last few years."

The shift has given residents more time to get to know one another — over long walks with their dogs or meals at Flip Burger or one of the other restaurants that have opened.

A row of houses nestled on a sunny day in the Nations area of Nashville on Feb. 18.(Photo: Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean)

Devin Drake works on building a lamp in the front yard of his home on Illinois Avenue in the Nations Feb. 18, in Nashville, Tenn. He has been renting this home for four years. (Photo: Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean)

Mark Barrett, Vice President of the Nations Neighborhood Association, walks around the new site developer Southeast Venture is eyeing for a mix of single-family homes and apartments in the nations area of Nashville on Feb. 18.(Photo: Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean)

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The influx of more affluent residents has left some longtimers and advocates wondering where they fit in.

“That’s the big million-dollar question right now," said Corey Gephart, the CEO at St. Luke's Community House. "How do we strategically set ourselves up to continue to serve those we’ve served and to bridge that gap between the new and the old?”

St. Luke's has spent more than 100 years supporting low-income and elderly families in The Nations.

5 Entrepreneurs to Know

Amanda Harvard

Co-Founder of Health: ELT

"Nashville is ever increasingly becoming a great place to start a business. There is a plethora of talent there and there is a lot of opportunity...People who have opportunities at more established companies might be willing to take a risk to come with you because it's becoming a cultural norm to work at a more interesting company."

Nicolas Holland

Founder of CentreSource, Populr.me and director of labs at HubSpot

"It felt very much like we had someting to prove...Every hard-driving, hustling entrepreneur kind of had a chip on their shoulder, in terms of having to kind of defend their decision for starting up here...That atmopshere in my opinion has really changed...Nashville has a lot of entrepreneurial infrastructure now."

Marcus Whitney

President of Jumpstart Foundary and co-founder of Moontoast

"Entrepreneurship has become a primary conversation in Nashville, right along with the great music scene and the great health care scene. People think it's really important that Nashville be a very strong entrepreneurial city, and I think we have invested correctly in various community organizations that are emphasizing that importance."

Josh Nickols

CEO of InvisionHeart

"It's a very different and exciting city. There are a lot more in the way of resources available to entrepreneurs – the (Nashville) Entrepreneur Center, the number of people in town who are excited about early stage companies and willing to be supportive and champions of those companies. There are more investor groups, more angel groups who are coming in behind, so the likelihood of succeeding with a startup here has increased quite a lot since a decade ago."

Chris Hefley

CEO of LeanKit

"Nashville is definitely a great city to attract people to. As we grow LeanKit, one of the things we are doing is going out and finding people that have the talent we need – Silicon Valley or the Northeast – and bringing them here. More and more, as we get more and more successful tech campanies and businesses like LeanKit in Nashville, then we will have more and more of that talent level."

But many of those families have moved to Antioch or Madison, neighborhoods that are undergoing their own transitions as new destinations for residents displaced by the flood and seeking affordable housing.

The same trend has taken root in other parts of the city as well, where a surge in housing costs pushed residents into neighborhoods they never would have considered otherwise. Danielle Condon, who left Inglewood in 2015 after years of searching, remembers her reaction when her husband first suggested moving to Madison.

"I was like, 'There’s no way you will catch me living in Madison ever,' " she said with a laugh.

But the couple and their family made the move last April, and Condon has come to see things differently after a year in the northern neighborhood.

“People think it’s a world away," she said. “We’ve just been so surprised that we like it and there’s growth. ... I feel like I’ve kind of tapped into what’s happening."

Further west in Bellevue, where middle- and upper-middle-class residents were more likely to clean up, rebuild and stay, the neighborhood is in the midst of a boom after years of stagnant growth that predated the flood.

When the local mall closed in 2008, Bellevue ceased to become a destination to those outside the neighborhood. But a building boom that includes new apartment complexes along with the redevelopment of the mall is expected to change the once small-town atmosphere.

Meanwhile, in Bordeaux just northwest of downtown, residents are wondering why they have been left behind.

“Bordeaux has always been one of the last to the table when it comes to development, period," said Lonnell Matthews, a Bordeaux resident who now heads the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods. “It’s almost like we get the leftover proposals" from developers.

Matthews predicted the city's rapid growth would eventually force developers to bring a wider range of housing and retail development to the North Nashville neighborhood surrounding Clarksville Pike.

20 things to know about the 2010 flood

Six years ago, Nashville was brought to its knees by a flood the likes of which it had never known. Lives were lost and homes were ruined, but Nashville rose above the tragedy. Whether you were a victim or volunteer then or are new to Nashville now, here are 20 things to know about the 2010 flood.

Sponsored by

Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

And the rain came

Nashville shattered nearly every rainfall record conceivable the weekend of May 1-2, 2010. According to the National Weather Service, 13.57 inches of rain was measured during a 36-hour period. The combined two-day rainfall total doubled the previous 48-hour rainfall record in Nashville.

Submitted

Deaths

Twenty-six people died from the flooding in Tennessee and Kentucky, including 11 in the Nashville area. The body of the last victim, Danny Tomlinson of Pegram, 39, was found Sept. 26, 2010, nearly five months after the flood.

File / The Tennessean

The damage

Nearly 11,000 properties were damaged or destroyed in the flood, and 10,000 people were displaced from their homes. The flood caused more than $2 billion in private property damage and $120 million in public infrastructure damage in Nashville. One year after the flood, The Tennessean, citing the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, reported that 300 to 400 businesses remained closed and 1,528 jobs were "very unlikely" to return.

Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean

The Cumberland swells

The Cumberland River crested downtown at 51.86 feet at 6 p.m. May 3, 2010. The previous record was 47.6 feet on March 15, 1975. Flood stage is 40 feet.

Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean

Opry Mills

The flood swamped Opry Mills with up to 10 feet of murky water, closing the 1.2 million-square-foot mall for nearly two years. Before the flood, the mall averaged $279 million in annual sales and employed roughly 3,000 people. An estimated $200 million in repairs were made before the mall reopened in March 2012. Photos of Opry Mills flood damage

Submitted

Gaylord sues

Gaylord Entertainment Co. sued the National Weather Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2012, saying it sustained $250 million in damage after its Opryland Resort & Convention Center and Grand Ole Opry House were flooded. The hotel evacuated 1,500 guests to a local high school as the Cumberland River swelled in May 2010 and was closed for about seven months for renovations. In 2013, a U.S. district judge dismissed three lawsuits that accused the Corps and NWS of negligence during the disaster. Gaylord lost its appeal of the decision.

File / The Tennessean

The music plays on

The Grand Ole Opry House stage was underwater on Monday, May 3, 2010, when Opry President Steve Buchanan began searching for and finding a place to hold the Tuesday night show (War Memorial Auditorium) and the shows slotted for Friday and Saturday (the Ryman Auditorium). Despite damage at the Opry House that included a ruined stage, pews, curtains, floor and the walls, the music never stopped as the "Opry" continued to venue-hop during the summer. After undergoing $20 million in renovations - the entire first floor had to be rebuilt - the Opry House reopened in October 2010.

File / The Tennessean

The Schermerhorn

The Grand Ole Opry House wasn't the only Nashville music venue temporarily silenced by the flood. All told, 24 feet of water entered the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in the week that followed the storm. Eleven air circulation units, each two stories tall, were inundated. The waters engulfed two Steinway grand pianos, valued at more than $100,000 each, as well as the console and blower room for the hall's $2.5 million organ. But like the "Opry," the music played on, with a free show days after the flood on the public square. Christopher Cross, who had been set to perform at the Schermerhorn, played for no salary. Restoring the Schermerhorn, built in 2006, cost nearly $40 million and took seven months.

File / The Tennessean

Sports venues

LP Field and Bridgestone Arena fared much better than the city's music venues. Still, LP Field, the home of the Tennessee Titans, sustained flood damage just weeks before the CMA Music Festival. "It was daunting, and we knew the show had to go on, at all costs," CMA CEO Steve Moore told The Tennessean. "The alternative was unacceptable. We wound up having an economic impact of more than $24 million for the week, which was quite a boost for people whose businesses had been hurting." Six months after the flood, Metro had spent $4 million on flood-related infrastructure repairs to LP Field and $3.6 million to Bridgestone Arena.

Shelley Mays / The Tennessean

Bellevue

Bellevue was one of Nashville's hardest-hit communities, with more than 1,000 residents affected by the flood. In section II of River Plantation, 146 homes were destroyed. During a recovery celebration one year later, U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper called Bellevue ground zero of the devastating flood that hit Middle Tennessee. "We have so much to be proud of," he told residents. "The job is not completely done. We are still healing."

Jeannie Seely, left, walks through her neighbor Carolyn McClain's flood-damaged home June 30, 2010. McClain does not plan on returning to the home. (File / The Tennessean)

Pennington Bend

Not far from the flooded Opryland complex on the banks of the Cumberland River, homes in Pennington Bend remained under water long after most other Nashville neighborhoods had begun to dry. Country music legend Jeannie Seely's Pennington Bend home had to be gutted to a shell. She was offered a buyout but refused, choosing to rebuild instead. "I have to replace everything, but where your heart is and when you only have so many years to live, you're not going to make concessions," she said.

Shelley Mays / The Tennessean

Antioch

The water rose as high as 15 feet around neighborhoods that border Mill Creek in South Nashville. The flash flood ripped through a trailer park along Antioch Pike, tearing the homes to pieces and sending at least one trailer sailing a quarter of a mile down current. Residents of other neighborhoods waded to safety through chest-high water.

File / Ashland City Times

Outside Nashville

The flood's wrath wasn't contained to Nashville. In Cheatham County, about 550 homes were damaged as well as 55 businesses, including A.O. Smith and Wal-Mart, two of the county's largest employers. The flood was the costliest disaster in the county's history, causing about $10 million in damage. In Williamson County, 1,500 residential and commercial structures were damaged, causing $100 million in damage. In Sumner County, floodwaters invaded more than 650 structures, causing more than $23 million in damage, and at least 23 families were displaced at a Gallatin mobile home park.

George Walker IV / The Tennessean

The criticism

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Weather Service took heat in congressional hearings after Nashville was caught off guard by the rapid rise of the Cumberland River, which crested almost 12 feet above flood stage. The Corps apologized for its handling of the crisis, and the weather service admitted that it did not clearly communicate the magnitude of the flood. Still, a slew of lawsuits followed. The agencies have since developed ways to share information, with dam operators now telephoning the weather service to report water releases.

John Partipilo / The Tennessean

The cleanup

In the aftermath of the flood, Metro Public Works employees worked 24 hours a day for several days hauling truckloads of garbage. The agency says crews removed 111,000 tons of debris - 222,000,000 pounds - from homes and businesses.

File / The Tennessean

The recovery

With such a massive mess, Nashville banded together like never before to help neighbors clean up. According to the mayor's office, 29,000 volunteers, largely organized by Hands On Nashville, provided more than 375,000 service hours. A year after the flood, the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee said it had received $14 million in donations from individuals and events. It disbursed more than $10 million of that money for help in rebuilding damaged homes, rental assistance, food, counseling and other services. Then and Now photos from the flood

Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean

An extreme makeover

Perhaps one of the most memorable images from the flood was that of a portable classroom floating down Interstate 24. The classroom belonged to Lighthouse Christian School, a 600-student school in Antioch. Eight of its 18 buildings were destroyed by the flood. Four months later, ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and Nashville volunteers rebuilt the building used by 4-year-olds.

File / The Tennessean

Garth Brooks

The singer behind the hit "The Thunder Rolls" played nine sold-out flood-relief shows at Bridgestone Arena in December 2010. All proceeds benefited the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. About $4.8 million was raised.

Rick Murray

The iconic photo

At 9:30 a.m. May 2, 2010, then-Beech High School senior Jamey Howell was on his way back home with his girlfriend, Andrea Silvia (now Goodrum), when a strong current caught his Jeep Grand Cherokee and spun it into a concrete culvert. The teens climbed from waist-deep water onto the roof of the vehicle. They then attempted to swim. The current swept Howell and Goodrum about a mile, where the teens were able to get out of the water. "When you look back at it, you think, 'Wow, we really could have and probably should have died,' " Howell said. Five years later, Goodrum, 24, is married and teaches pre-K in Hendersonville. Howell, 23, is two semesters from graduating from Middle Tennessee State University. Read their story.

City of Nashville

Flood wall proposal

In February, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean unveiled the largest flood protection project the city has ever seen. The plan includes a 2,100-foot-long flood wall along the new West Riverfront Park and a new $65 million storm water pumping station at Riverfront Park that would take rainfall that is being held back by the flood wall and force it back into the Cumberland River. Construction on the project is expected to begin by the end of the summer and take 30 to 36 months.

Historic music venue hangs in hot spot

The Station Inn remains a cozy old-school gem in the middle of the thriving and modern Gulch.

Take a deep breath. The iconic bluegrass venue, the Station Inn, hangs on to its music and history in one of the areas hottest development spots, The Gulch.
Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

On the wall at the Station Inn there’s a sketch of Mount Rushmore that seems out of place surrounded by old gig posters. Look a little closer, and you’ll see an additional face alongside Abraham Lincoln’s: Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass.

At this cozy gem in the Gulch, roots music is king. Every night, fans fill the club's mismatched chairs to watch artists ranging from Texas honky tonker Dale Watson to local treasure Jim Lauderdale to wickedly funny country duo Doyle & Debbie.

5 Musicians to Watch

Kelsey Waldon

Fans of Kacey Musgraves will be drawn to the whip-smart songwriting and catchy hooks of country singer-songwriter Kelsey Waldon. She's finishing up a new record that will be released later this year. (Photo / Laura E. Partain)

Megan McCormick

You've seen singer-songwriter Megan McCormick tour with Jenny Lewis and appear on "Nashville," but if you haven't heard her solo material, you're missing out. In between side work with other artists, the wickedly talented McCormick is working on another album and getting into production work with Ethan Ballinger, another local to keep an eye on. (Photo / Kate York)

Carey

Fuzzy power-pop, or "carport rock," as the band calls it, abounds on Caery's self-titled debut Ep (out this month), which the trio recorded in their East Nashville home. (Photo Submitted)

Mike Floss

This 24-year-old from East Nashville might be the next Nashville rapper to hit the mainstream. He's evenmade waves in Music City's rock scene, perfomring at Jack White's Third Man records venue and teaming with his band, The Dead Weather, on an unspecified project.(Photo courtesy Paradigm Talent Agency)

Judah & the Lion

This Belmont University-bred band whisks rock, country and Americana sounds into their inspirational anthems, so we can see where they're coming from with their new album's title, "Folk Hop N' Roll." That Dave Cobb produced effort hit stories earlier in March, and the band is set to make a big splash at Bonnaroo in the summer. (Photo Submitted)

Surrounding the Station Inn is a thriving neighborhood; the new construction dwarfs the tiny club, and at night, tourists and Nashville residents alike file into the Gulch's many hot spots. It's a world away from how the area looked in 1981 when J.T. Gray purchased the club. “This was all industrial then,” he explains. “The only businesses that were open was the Station Inn and a restaurant on the corner …(people) came to this part of town for us because there was nothing else around here."

Mandolin maestro Roland White remembers that time as well. He's performed at the Station Inn since the club opened in 1974 at its original location near Vanderbilt (it moved to its current spot four years later). If he’s not onstage, White can often be found in the audience, because he knows he’s in for a good show no matter the night. “The music’s always top-notch,” he says.

The Station Inn attracts tourists from around the world in addition to regulars, drawn by the excellent music as well as the prospect of a relatively inexpensive night out. (Sometimes it’s more expensive to park in the neighborhood than it is to see a show at the Station Inn, where the average admission is $15.)

Though it seems the Gulch is changing daily, the Station Inn isn’t going anywhere. Charlie Wehby — owner of the land on which the Station Inn sits — says he has no plans to sell the property to developers, though some have approached him over the last several years: “J.T. (Gray) and I have a pretty good rapport together and as long as we’re around, I think the Station Inn is going to stay there.”

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Just as one of Nashville’s hottest neighborhoods sprouted up around the 42-year-old Station Inn, the city’s most buzzed-about music makers are also turning to decades-old traditions.

After a decade of rock and pop acts making a name for “New Nashville,” suddenly the city’s hippest sound, believe it or not, is country. Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell and Chris Stapleton are three exceptional singer-songwriters, hailed for shaking up the modern Music City establishment while also tipping their hats to the outlaws of yesteryear.

“The only businesses that were open was the Station Inn and a restaurant on the corner …people came to this part of town for us because there was nothing else around here.”

J.T. Gray, owner of Station Inn

The city’s non-country musicians are also embracing their Nashville roots in a new way, even as they push their sound into other uncharted territories.

Nashville’s Judah and the Lion sums up their swirl of influences as “Folk Hop N' Roll.” That’s the title of their new album, produced by Nashville’s Dave Cobb (who was also part of Simpson’s, Isbell’s and Stapleton’s efforts).

The Stray Birds make their debut at The Station Inn on Feb. 18.(Photo: Larry McCormack / The Tennessean)

“You didn't see it as much as you do now,” the owner of Craighead Barber Shop talking about the variety of walkers and joggers.

They're standard bearers for nearby upcoming neighborhoods such as Germantown (getting it's own Trader Joe's) that are extending their reach west along Rosa L. Parks Boulevard into the heart of the once-vibrant hub of Nashville's African-American community.

“Jefferson Street right now is in the beginning of this whole innovation, so it’s kind of an exciting place to be and time to be here to kind of get in at the ground floor when things are starting to establish.”

Eva Evans, Jefferson Street business owner

In the quarter century after World War II, Jefferson Street was the epicenter of the black R&B music scene where stars like Ray Charles, Etta James and an emerging Jimi Hendrix performed.

Jefferson Street's heydays were followed by a post-integration downturn, which began in the '60s and was fueled in part by construction of Interstate 40 through the area. "That was the first dagger that caused the hemorrhage — the exodus of middle-class consumers and clients," recalled Kwame Lillard, a civil rights activist and area property owner. "That corridor was not the best corridor for I-40 West."

Known most recently for barbershops, beauty salons and fast food restaurants, Jefferson Street now has businesses opening, residential developments under way and properties steadily changing hands.

Internet marketing companies, a bike shop and a new veterinary practice are setting up shop and bringing fresh life to one of the last thoroughfares to feel the Nashville boom.

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Eva Evans is opening her veterinary business on Jefferson Street. She helps to explain the appeal to newcomers who have their eyes on living and opening new businesses in the Jefferson Street area.
George Walker VI / The Tennessean

Newcomers to the area include Eva Evans, who bought a 1930s building at 1016 Jefferson St. to open a veterinary practice targeting young professionals moving to nearby neighborhoods.

“Jefferson Street right now is in the beginning of this whole innovation, so it’s kind of an exciting place to be and time to be here to kind of get in at the ground floor when things are starting to establish,” Evans said.

The new interest puts Jefferson Street on the frontline of issues reverberating across other Nashville communities.

Some Jefferson Street business owners and nearby residents worry about the street maintaining its identity amidst growth.

Rosetta Perry, publisher of the black-owned Tennessee Tribune newspaper that has its offices on Jefferson Street, sees things differently. "Maybe we need to lose some of our identity, so we look like the rest of Nashville," she said. "We don't have to keep rundown buildings, because Jefferson Street looked better 50 years ago. You can't stop people from buying property and putting what they want there."

Nashville veterinarian Eva Evans is looking forward to opening her new practice in this building on Jefferson Street on Wednesday Feb. 17, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn.(Photo: George Walker IV / The Tennessean)

Like other small business owners, Evans cited affordability as a reason she chose to invest on the street.

“...When I looked at the cost of leasing (in Germantown) for five years plus the renovations to build-out the space, it was the same as if I bought this whole thing in cash,” Evans said.

For Evans, the makeup of the surrounding neighborhoods underpins the logic of that location.

"Those young professionals that are single and don’t have kids yet but they have pets, they're willing to invest time and they want the best service and health care for their animals," Evans said.

Trotter of Craighead Barber Shop said he's picked up a few new clients from the new residents. "It's a good thing," he said. "The dynamics of the old community have changed."

At-Large Metro Councilwoman Sharon Hurt expects the area to always be known as "historic" Jefferson Street as long as mainstays like historically black Fisk University, Meharry Medical College and Tennessee State University and stalwart area churches remain.

"I don't think it's ever going to be what it once was, but it can be vibrant again," Hurt said about Jefferson Street. "It's possible where we celebrate our history and honor our heritage, but we also have to embrace our future. We have to not be not victims of our past, but victors where we all work together for the betterment of the community at large."

Newcomers diverse, except in church

Sunday’s have evolved with the encroachment of secular life and shifting attitudes toward faith.

Sunday mornings are a day of worship for many of Nashville’s faithful.

Allena Bell, left, and Bob Van Fleteren, in background, lift their hands in praise while singing during church service at Strong Tower Bible Church on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016 in Nashville.(Photo: Shelley Mays)

The city is calmer. Quieter. Cars flow easily down Nashville’s normally jam-packed streets, turning into the parking lots of churches that dot nearly every corner. Nashville is in the Bible Belt, and some call it the buckle. About 69 percent of residents in the Nashville metro area in 2015 identified as Christian, according to Public Religion Research Institute's American Values Atlas.

Though the area's biggest churches offer weekday evening worship, Pastor Chris Williamson of Strong Tower Bible Church, a congregation of about 400 members, said "for the most part, it's Sunday."

Nathan Taylor can be found at Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church on most Sundays. Work and travel occasionally get in the way. Taylor, 59,

But not all faiths worship on Sundays. And for others in Nashville, it’s secular activities, not church pews that call them on Sunday mornings. Almost a quarter of the metro area in 2015 said they were religiously unaffiliated, the American Values Atlas shows. A secular congregation known as Sunday Assembly Nashville meets monthly in East Nashville, and there was a day-long convention for nonbelievers in early March. Other non-Judeo-Christian faiths barely shift the needle.

“You’re seeing something of a metamorphosis so that (Nashville has) its own cultural norms and conventions, and traditions are having to be kind of renegotiated.”

Paul Lim, Vanderbilt University professor

In the hip neighborhoods of East Nashville and Germantown, brunch waits are a kind of penance all their own. An increasing number of bars and restaurants offer the mid-morning meal, often withboozy beverages.

But so-called "blue" laws still limit the sale of alcohol on Sundays — laws that have their roots in Protestantism, which remains the dominant strand of Christianity in Tennessee.

Newcomers are also leaving their mark, said Paul Lim, a Vanderbilt University professor who studies the history of Christianity.

"I think there’s been a recent trend in terms of Nashville becoming more of a destination city for a lot of professionals and people coming to Nashville to live. They’re not necessarily from the South," Lim said. "You’re seeing something of a metamorphosis so that (Nashville has) its own cultural norms and conventions, and traditions are having to be kind of renegotiated."

As the city's population increases so does its diversity. New Americans accounted for more than half of the city's population growth between 2000 and 2012, according to Partnership for a New American Economy.

As is the case across the country, an influx of Hispanic people is contributing to the reshaping of the city, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville has a thriving Hispanic ministry.

Strong Tower Bible Church Pastor Chris Williamson, center, joins hands in prayer with church leadership Dr. Tyler Reimschisel and Kathleen Murphy before a church service on Feb. 14, 2016.

(Photo: Shelley Mays / The Tennessean)

Nevertheless, Williamson said that even as the city grows and diversifies, times of worship remain more segregated.

Strong Tower, he said, was founded roughly two decades ago with the mission of diversity.

“You would think that in our faith, we should be more diverse,” he said. “The body of Christ should be more diverse than what it is.”

But for many, churches are a place to feel comfortable rather than challenged, Williamson said.

“Sometimes they don’t want to come to church to hear about social justice," he said. "That’s not all we talk about, but we talk about it.”

Nashville’s Muslim community is one of the leaders in service and interfaith efforts in the city. In the past decade, the Islamic Center of Nashville, one of the city’s oldest congregations, has really stepped up its involvement, said Rashed Fakhruddin, president of the mosque.

“We’ve also taken the initiative to lead some of those (interfaith) gatherings and really working with faith groups to make Nashville a better place and a welcoming place,” Fakhruddin said.

He thinks the future holds more opportunities to learn from one another.

A look at the top 5 biggest congregations in Nashville, in no particular order.(Photo: Illustration by The Tennessean / Getty Images)

"I think there will be a better understanding of each other and people will be able to live based on the true knowledge of each other through relationships and not based on assumptions. That's the danger when we all live based on assumptions," Fakhruddin said.

Williamson said that at other weekend community gathering places — sports events or concerts — people from a range of backgrounds and communities find themselves mixing.

"If you go to a Titans game, the Titans are able to put a product on the field able to garner a diverse support base,” Williamson said. “The church fails to do that."

Doug Shaughnessy and Lee Ann Lambdin noticed a change in the glossy 12 South: It was less funky and diverse than when they moved in a dozen years ago.

So they sold a little over a year ago — at a big profit — and bought in East Nashville near McFerrin Park, where basketball courts are bombarded with kids on a sunny Saturday afternoon and older homes abut newer public housing.

They've become regular diners at Dino's, just a short drive away.

“Where do you see Formica anymore?” Shaughnessy asked, seated on a bar stool, waiting for two pieces of locally made pie to-go. “This could remind me of my mom’s old kitchen table. Except my mom never cooked very well.”

While a new, trendy scene springs up in East Nashville that brings with it expensive drinks and meals, Dino’s has hung onto its history — albeit a less grimy version. It hung on to the original Formica tables, too.

“There might be a beautiful historic house, then there are two "tall and skinnies" on one lot. That is what we call new Nashville,” said Dino’s regular Ryan Schemmel. 28, co-founder of Fort Houston, a warehouse space for creatives. “That’s kind of mixed in with places where you pay 20 bucks for two pieces of ravioli on a plate.”

Dino’s opened in the 1970s, but the building predates that by 40 years, current owner Alex Wendkos said.

“It's been around forever,” she said. “Everyone knows that and appreciates that, and I wanted to save it from becoming the new Nashville.”

When Wendkos and her business partner Miranda Pontes took over in fall 2014, rumors began swirling, she said. “We were going to ruin it and create a new concept,” she said, recalling the top complaint.

The changing face of East Nashville gave locals good reason to be suspicious.

From 2008-13, more than 75 businesses popped up in the area around Dino's bringing with them employment opportunities.. But that growth also put pressure on the establishments that made East Nashville unique.

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Dino's Bar in East Nashville is a historic neighborhood spot with loyal customers.
Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean

“There were so many new places popping up, coming from out of town,” Wendkos said. “This was my chance to save an old staple.”

That meant some work: About two months of modernization and wiping the film — a ghost left behind by years of indoor smoking — from the wood-paneled walls. Garish blue paint was stripped off, the low-slung ceiling raised several feet.

Nests — rats and cockroaches — were found and removed from their hiding places. The cloudy windows, with their neon beer signs and painted with “Dino’s ice cold beer,” stayed the same.